Nokia 3585i User Manual page 116

The National Institutes of Health participates in some interagency
working group activities, as well.
FDA shares regulatory responsibilities for wireless phones with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC). All phones that are sold in
the United States must comply with FCC safety guidelines that limit RF
exposure. FCC relies on FDA and other health agencies for safety
questions about wireless phones.
FCC also regulates the base stations that the wireless phone networks rely
upon. While these base stations operate at higher power than do the
wireless phones themselves, the RF exposures that people get from these
base stations are typically thousands of times lower than those they can
get from wireless phones. Base stations are thus not the primary subject
of the safety questions discussed in this document.
18. What kinds of phones are the subject of this update?
The term "wireless phone" refers here to hand-held wireless phones with
built-in antennas, often called "cell," "mobile," or "PCS" phones. These
types of wireless phones can expose the user to measurable radio
frequency energy (RF) because of the short distance between the phone
and the user's head. These RF exposures are limited by Federal
Communications Commission safety guidelines that were developed with
the advice of FDA and other federal health and safety agencies. When the
phone is located at greater distances from the user, the exposure to RF is
drastically lower because a person's RF exposure decreases rapidly with
increasing distance from the source. The so-called "cordless phones,"
which have a base unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house,
typically operate at far lower power levels, and thus produce RF exposures
well within the FCC's compliance limits.
19. What are the results of the research done already?
The research done thus far has produced conflicting results, and many
studies have suffered from flaws in their research methods. Animal
experiments investigating the effects of radio frequency energy (RF)
exposures characteristic of wireless phones have yielded conflicting
results that often cannot be repeated in other laboratories. A few animal
studies, however, have suggested that low levels of RF could accelerate the
development of cancer in laboratory animals. However, many of the
Section 4: Safety Guidelines and Warranty Information
110 4A: Safety